clipped from article: More than 50 countries, led by Switzerland, will ask the United Nations Security Council Monday to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, a move that would pave the way for war crimes prosecutions.

A letter obtained by the Associated Press cites the findings of a U.N. expert panel documenting summary executions, torture and sexual violence that has occurred in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011.

The violence continued Sunday as Syrian fighter jets bombed the Damascus suburbs, killing at least nine people, including a number of children, in a government offensive to dislodge rebels from strategic areas around the capital.

A report by the opposition Damascus Media Center cited as many as 36 people killed in the attack, including 14 children. That account could not be independently confirmed. [read more at link]